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Ganga ghats in Varanasi witness huge devotee turnout on Chhath Puja
To effectively manage the festive rush at these ghats, the district administration and the Varanasi Police Commissionerate made elaborate security arrangements.
VARANASI: Thousands of devotees thronged the bank of Ganga river in Varanasi on Sunday to celebrate the Chhath Puja and perform the festive rituals. Besides the city’s most popular Assi Ghat, river banks -- including Dashashmedh Ghat, Raj Ghat, and a few others -- also recorded a huge turnout of devotees, mostly from east Uttar Pradesh. Several of them took a holy dip in the river while offering prayers to the Sun god.
To effectively manage the festive rush at these ghats, the district administration and the Varanasi Police Commissionerate made elaborate security arrangements. The festivities concluded on Sunday without any untoward incident.
“The festival includes taking a holy dip, fasting, and offering prayers to the setting and the rising sun,” said Shaila Kashyap, a resident of Jagatganj. She further said that the Sun god, who blesses us all with long and prosperous life, is worshipped during the festival. “The rituals of this four-day-long puja is very rigorous as it includes taking a holy dip and abstaining from drinking water,” Shaila added.
Adding to Shaila’s take on the festival, Roopa Devi, who hails from Pandeypur, said, “It is generally believed that only women observe the rituals during this puja. However, men also play an important role as they are the ones who carry the entire puja samigri (material) to the ghats and perform rituals. In several traditions, men also abstain themselves from drinking water.”
In a similar vein, Vibha Tiwari, another city-based devotee, said, “It’s the lone festival where both the rising and the setting sun is worshipped. In the great spiral of creation, what is born must die and what has died must reborn; what has risen will set and what has set shall rise. This cycle of birth and death is represented by the setting sun and the promise of a new dawn.”
Meanwhile, Satish Ganesh, Varanasi police commissioner, said that elaborate security arrangements have been made at the ghats in order to manage the crowd on the occasion of Chhath Puja. He added that route diversions have also been made in the city to avoid any inconvenience to the daily commuters and prevent traffic snarls.
